Price of tax collection hits small business hardest

22 Mar 2010

Philip Booth interviewed on video by Reuters

The cost of tax collection in the UK is almost £20 billion per annum, according to a recent report from Britain’s Institute of Economic Affairs.

The amount reflects the cost of compliance and administration as well as Britain’s handicap of having the longest tax code in the developed world, co-authors Francis Chittenden, Hilary Foster and Brian Sloan write in Taxation and Red Tape.

These issues should be addressed by political parties in the lead-up to the general election, Booth told Reuters in an video interview at his London office.